US 2004/0232856 A1 describes a lighting system having ballasts which are connected to lamps and at least one controller for controlling the ballasts and thus the operation of the lamps. Before installation in the lighting system, the ballasts are provided with codes which are individual for each of the ballasts and can be addressed externally by signaling. These codes are read during the installation of the lighting system and are entered in a controller. The controller assigns drive addresses for drive purposes to each of the ballasts, and the controller uses the drive addresses to control the ballasts. Controllers are connected by means of control signal outputs to a control signal line or bus line, to which the electronic ballasts are connected.